You're Not Cute, Not At All
by AuroraBlix
Summary: Tumblr prompt: Cardin would find it embarrassing like "God damn it, Arc, if you sing that stupid Firefly song one more time..." but he secretly thinks its cute.


"Take my love, take my land. Take me where I cannot stand…"

Jaune reclined lazily in his bed, flipping idly through one of his beloved comic books, singing that DAMN SONG under his breath. More than anything, Cardin wanted to punch the blonde in his stupid face, but he had homework and he needed to NOT fail Oobleck's class, fuck you very much.

He settled for barking "Shut up!" at the smaller boy across the room, and barely kept from sighing in relief when he was obeyed. _'The Faunus War was arguably one of the most important—'_

"I don't care, I'm still free. You can'take the sky from me…"

Groaning in dismay, Cardin tried to ignore the off-key singing (and the inherently nerdy song itself), focusing harder on his homework than he'd ever thought possible. _'—one of the most important events in modern history, as it highlighted the many issues—'_

"Take me out to the black, tell 'em I ain't comin' back…"

The sound of a heavy textbook being slammed into the desk echoed loudly through Team JNPR's dorm, startling Jaune and making him drop his comic book to the floor. He glanced over toward his companion and saw that the orange-haired boy was now standing. And glaring at him so viciously that Jaune briefly wondered if he would spontaneously combust, before dismissing the idea. Cardin's Semblance had nothing to do with fire or explosions…

Still, the problem of CRDL's leader stalking toward him with murder in his eyes remained, regardless of what his Semblance was… Jaune gulped and his eyes darted around the room for an escape route out of habit, more than any actual fear. Sure, Cardin Winchester was a LOT bigger and stronger than he was, but there was no way that the larger boy would do anything to hurt him. Not now, surely…

Cardin loomed over the blonde, arms crossed over his chest, his indigo eyes flinty. He leaned forward, placing one hand on either side of Jaune's head as he did, effectively trapping the smaller boy where he was. "Do it again," he growled menacingly. When all Jaune did was frown in confusion, Cardin leaned even closer and lowered his voice to a deadly whisper. "Sing it. Again."

Finally understanding the challenge in the larger boy's eyes, the blonde backpedalled as quickly as he could. "What—no, I'm fine!" Jaune squeaked. The orange-haired boy didn't look entirely convinced for a moment, so he followed it up with, "I got it—no more singing. I promise."

Cardin continued to glare distrustfully at him for a few more seconds, but ultimately nodded and strode back to the desk. He looked down at the paper he was attempting to write, and got back to work.

_'—as it highlighted the many issues that plagued the societies of the four kingdoms. These included the alarming prevalence of hatred and discrimination against the faunus, as well as—'_

"Burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me…"

"Dammit, Arc!" Cardin shouted, throwing his hands up in frustration and dragging them through his hair angrily. It probably made him look more than a little deranged, but if he had to listen to another round of Jaune singing that DAMN SONG he was going to kill someone! "I swear to Dust, if you sing that damn 'Firefly' song one more time, I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU!"

Rather than looking cowed, Jaune glanced up at his boyfriend and scoffed, clearly unimpressed with his companion's display of temper. "Uh-huh, sure," he said sarcastically. "Except, the last time you actually took a swing at me, Nora actually TRIED to break your legs and the rest of the teams decided that we weren't allowed to see each other anymore."

All of this was completely true, of course, and delivered in such an uncharacteristically flat tone of voice that Cardin was forcefully reminded of how Nikkos, Xiao Long, and even RUSSEL had cornered him several hours after the… incident and informed him that he was no longer allowed to see the blonde. He shivered at the memory, at how angry everyone had been at him after that, at how long and hard he had to work to convince everyone that he could be trusted to be in the same room as Jaune without a fucking chaperone.

"Fine," Cardin grumbled eventually, his temper cooling in the face of his boyfriend's thoroughly mussed hair and the various marks that adorned his shirtless torso. "But, seriously? I HAVE to finish this, or Doctor Oobleck is going to kill ME."

"Well, that WOULD be a shame," the blonde agreed easily, his eyes drifting back to the comic book on the floor. As he leaned over to scoop it up, he grinned wickedly and continued, "Then I wouldn't have a good excuse to keep turning down Sky…"

THAT certainly got the larger boy's attention, the reminder of his blue-haired teammate's minor infatuation with HIS boyfriend never failing to get a rise out of Cardin. Pushing away from the desk forcefully, the orange-haired boy crossed the room again in three steps, cupped the blonde's jaw in one hand, and dragged him up into a kiss.

As usual, it was just as much a battle of wills as it was a display of affection, teeth making an appearance more often than tongue, and both boys were panting by the time they broke apart.

"Sing it one more time," Cardin threatened as he breathed heavily, "and I will tie you up, gag you, make you scream my name, and then LEAVE you like that so I can finish my damn paper."

There was a brief moment of silence, before Jaune pushed the larger boy away, sprang to his feet on top the bed, and—

"THERE'S NO PLACE I CAN BE, SINCE I'VE FOUND SERENITY! BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE THE SKY FROM—mmph!"


End file.
